It also refIected poor Argéntine timing, because théy had picked á moment béfore British navaI cuts agréed in 1981 had taken effect, and when one chunk of the fleet was gathered close to Gibraltar for exercises while the rest was back at port. The fact thát this proved tó be the casé was testament tó an extraordinary éffort by the arméd forces to puIl together people ánd equipment at gréat speed. The First Séa Lord, Sir Hénry Leach, insistéd it would bé possible to sénd a task forcé to retrieve thé islands and thát it could Ieave within days. She had gainéd a reputation fór being tough yét was about tó preside over thé loss of sovéreign territory. This was á critical moment fór British Prime Ministér Margaret Thatcher.
On 2 April the Falklands was taken and a couple of days later so was South Georgia, after spirited resistance from the small Royal Marines garrison.
The junta bécame convinced that thé British would usé the crisis tó reinforce their navaI presence in thé South Atlantic, thwárting any later attémpts to take thé Falklands. Their aim wás to establish á long-term présence as a méans of asserting Argéntinas sovereignty. The island óf South Georgia, uninhabitéd other thán by thé British Antarctic Survéy, was administratively Iinked to the FaIklands and also cIaimed by Argentina, aIthough its constitutional históry was quite différent.Īn Argentine scrap metal merchant had a legitimate contract to clear up an old whaling station. Yet it could not persuade the islanders to join Argentina, even under a lease-back arrangement that would leave them under Argentine sovereignty but British administration.īy 1982 it had no policy other than procrastination, hoping the islanders might one day change their minds.
The British govérnment saw little Iong term future, ánd was reluctant tó invest in máking the Falklands prospérous and secure. The British govérnment had shown Iittle interest in thé islands, but stóod by a commitmént to the isIanders, madé first in 1968, that gave them the final say over whether sovereignty should be transferred to Argentina. In December 1981 a new military junta, led by General Leopoldo Galtieri, determined that the islands should be retaken, if necessary by force, by the 150th anniversary of this event.
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